1) The document discusses the status of surface water and groundwater in Ireland according to the Water Framework Directive. It provides interim status assessments showing the percentage of water bodies with high, good, moderate, poor, or bad ecological status. 2) Wastewater treatment plants, agriculture, forestry, and urban areas are cited as the main causes of surface water bodies having "less than good" status. For groundwater, agriculture is contributing to poor chemical status in many areas. 3) Key issues discussed include nitrogen and phosphates in water impacting seaweed blooms, groundwater as both an input to and pathway for surface waters, and groundwater-dependent ecosystems.

1. Surface Water and Groundwater
Status
Donal Daly
Hydrometric & Groundwater Section
Environmental Protection Agency
Acknowledgement: Colleagues in EPA and on WFD Groundwater Working Group

2. Water Freamework Directive
Water Status
“A measure of the present”
Status is the key element determining
the measures to be employed in the
Reliability Based Decoding Management
Plans to achieve the objectives of the
Water Framework Directive
Based on an evaluation of:
pressures, physical settings and
monitoring results

3. Ecological Status for Surface Waters
Pass
WFD
Fail
WFD

4. Interim Status Assessment of
Rivers
River Qualit y – WFD I nt erim St at us
Ecological Class
Hi g h
Good
Moderat e
Poor
Bad
Num ber of Wat er Bodies
(9%)
738 (40%)
509 (28%)
389 (21%)
41 (2%)
173

5. Interim Status Assessment
of Lakes
Lak e Qualit y – WFD I nt erim St at us
Biological Class
Hi g h
Good
Moder at e
Poor
Bad
Num ber of Lak es
( 2 8 .0 % )
75 ( 27.7% )
94 ( 34.7% )
17 ( 6.3% )
9 ( 3.3% )
76
Surf ace Ar ea ( k m 2 )
3 7 .1 % )
204.4 ( 20.5% )
397.9 ( 40% )
7.1 ( 0.7% )
16.5 ( 1.7% )
369.6 (

6. Main Causes of “less than good”
Status Surface Water Bodies
 Discharges from Wastewater Treatment
Plants (nutrients)
 Diffuse Agriculture (resulting in inputs
of Phosphorus and N)
 Forestry (sediment and Phosphorus)
 Urban areas

7. Groundwa
ter
boundary
Aquifer
boundary
GROUNDWATER
BODIES ARE
NORMALLY LARGE
(10s to 100s km2)
WILL HAVE
SEVERAL SW
BODIES
ASSOCIATED
WITH EACH ONE
3-Dimensional
Geological/hydrogeological
boundaries
Groundwater Bodies (GWBs): the management
unit of the WFD (not aquifers)

8. Groundwater Status
 Groundwater Directive
The overall aim of the WFD is to achieve
“Good Status” for all GWBs by 2015
Status
Scale: Status assesses Average GWB
Conditions
Local issues are managed under site
specific “Prevent or Limit” legislation, but
they may still impact on status

9. GWB Results:
Quantitative Status
 4 GWBs at Poor Status
 2 due to
unsustainable longterm abstraction
 2 due to abstractions
impacting on the
supporting water
level/flow conditions
of wetlands

10. GWB Results:
Chemical Status
 111 GWBs at POOR STATUS
 Relates to 14% of RoIs area
 Main Drivers:
 MRP contributing to SW
Eutrophication (101 GWBs)
 Metals from Historic
Mining Activities (5 GWBs)
 Contaminated land / Urban
(2 GWBs)
 Diffuse NO3 (2 GWBs)

11. Issues Arising (Selected)
1) Nitrogen & trac waters and sea lettuce
2) Groundwater as an input and a pathway to
surface water
3) Groundwater Dependent Terrestrial
Ecosystems
4) Phosphate in groundwater impacting on surface
water ecosystems
5) Groundwater Threshold Values
6) High status sites
7) Nitrate Trends

12. Who undertakes water
body classification?
 Environment Protection Agency
undertakes and is responsible for this
work
Small Stream Risk Score method not
used for status; but part of investigative
monitoring

13. Drifting Ulva blooms (Green tides) (‘sea lettuce’!!)
on the Brittany coast

15. N
s

16. Nitrogen, TRAC Waters
and Sea Lettuce

16% of TRAC waters are eutrophic or potentially eutrophic.
Why? Due to the presence of nutrients, mainly Nitrogen &
Phosphorus.

Coastal waters (median) for N = 2.6 mg/l (or 12 mg/L) at fresh
water interface
 Main Nitrogen Sources
 diffuse agriculture
 Short–term Implications:
 A potential health hazard
 An expensive and difficult collection & disposal issue
 Medium to long–term Implications:
 Investment in upgrading needed
 Reduction in nitrate loss to groundwater
 Lag time for reduction???

17. No longer sufficient to ‘see’
groundwater largely in terms of wells
Springs
Wells

18. Groundwater as a contributor to
surface water

19. Weathered/broken rock zone as
pathway for water and contaminants
Hook Head, Co. Wexford

20. Groundwater as a contributor to
groundwater dependent ecosystems
(GWDTEs)
Pollardstown Fen - a GWDTE

21. Surface of Groundwater
Progress
 Very little
 Environmental Supporting Conditions not
known:
 Nitrogen & Phosphorus environmental quality
standards needed
 groundwater level and flow conditions

22. Phosphate in GW:
Discussion
 Rivers in blue are ‘less
than good’ status
mainly due to diffuse
pressures
 PO4 in groundwater the
main cause in red
areas.
 Specific measures to
reduce PO4 “leakage” to
GW may be needed
 Will existing measures

23. Groundwater Threshold
Values (TVs)
 TVs are in the Groundwater Regulations and have
been reported to the world
 TVs are mean concentrations
 TVs are not Emission Limit Values
 TVs are trigger values that prompt further
investigation: not the boundary between GOOD and
POOR status
Parameter Threshold Value
Test
Reason for TV

must NO
Nitrate TVs 37.5 mg/lbe 3 appropriate to the receptor, e.g.
Drinking Water/General GWQ Protect Human Use
Human
TCE/PCE s 7.5 ug/l use (drinking water)
General GWQ
Surface
Chloride s 24 mg/l Cl water Saline Intrusion
s Wetlands
Conductivity 800 uS/cm
Saline Intrusion
MRP
35 ug/l P
Surface Water Quality
Ammonium 65 ug/l N
Surface Water Quality
Protect Human Use-Point Source
Upper Limit of NBL
Upper Limit of NBL
SW EQS
SW EQS

24. High Status Surface
Water Bodies

9% of rivers and 28% of lakes.
 Number of high quality river sites halved in last 20
years.
 High status Water Bodies are critical to species
biodiversity
 Deterioration to ‘good’ not allowed, therefore
measures to prevent this of critical importance and a
high priority
 Sensitive to pressures (forestry, farming, peat
extraction, rural housing) so ‘low level’ activities may
cause the deterioration
 Additional measures to protect these areas likely to
be needed

25. Some Context!!
Sewage pipe!!
holiday house in
west of Ireland
Sinéad
The Stray Cat

26. Ponded
effluent
26

27. 27

28. Start of
percolation
test
Next day
Conclusion: site
is not suitable
28

29. 20-30% of
impact due to
OSWTSs
Map source: CDM &
Eastern RBD RBPM

30. Gley soils &
limited soakage
Map source: CDM &
Eastern RBD RBPM

31. Drinking Water
Protected Areas
 Results of Status Test:
 2 Ground Water Bodies at
POOR STATUS

32. Nitrate Trends in Rivers
 NO3 concentrations are stable
 43% of all (surveillance + operational)
stations had concentrations <10mg/l,
with 21% >25 mg/l
 Over 70% of surveillance stations had
concentrations<10mg/l NO3, with 3%
>25mg/l
 But more time and data needed to test
for statistical significance.

33. Groundwater Surface 